From: Michael Eldred (artefact@T-ONLINE.DE)
Date: Tue Jun 17 2003 - 09:48:23 EDT
Cologne 17-Jun-2003 Fiftieth anniversary of the uprising in East Germany Here is rather an alternative "beyond CAPITAL" -- the 1984 Preface to my Ph.D. dissertation. http://www.webcom.com/artefact/ccfbdspf.html Available for the first time in digital form. Despite the time that has elapsed, surprisingly not so very much out of date. Michael Eldred _-_-_-_-_-_-_- artefact text and translation _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- made by art _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ http://www.webcom.com/artefact/ _-_-_-_-artefact@webcom.com _-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Dr Michael Eldred -_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ "michael a. lebowitz" schrieb Sun, 8 Jun 2003 14:01:04 -0700: > Here, as warned, is the new preface. > in solidarity, > michael > > >> MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ, BEYOND CAPITAL: MARX’S POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE >> WORKING CLASS (Second Edition) >> >> Preface to the Second Edition (forthcoming in June 2003 from >> Palgrave Macmillan) >> >> A reviewer of the first edition of this book wrote that it might be >> the worst possible time to publish a book about Marx. And it was. >> Capitalism was triumphant (with little apparent opposition) and its >> putative alternative, ‘Actually Existing Socialism’ (AES) appeared >> to have ended in a miserable fit of the blues. >> For those on the Right, that combination was sufficient to prove the >> error of Marxism. Many wondered--- how could you still talk about >> Marx? Are you still teaching Marxist economics? (Of course, in one >> of those ironies that Marx would have appreciated, it was possible >> to find conservatives of various hues quoting scriptures and >> declaring that capitalism’s successes and the failures of AES >> confirmed that Marx was right.) Some on the Left concluded, simply, >> that capitalist relations of production do not yet fetter the >> development of productive forces. What can you do against History? >> And so it was that, rather than socialism, for some the only >> feasible alternative to barbarism became barbarism with a human >> face. >> Others on the Left responded to the absence of the ‘revolt of the >> working class’ that Marx projected by concluding that Marx had it >> all wrong--- that his privileging of workers as the subjects of >> social change constituted the sins of class reductionism and >> essentialism. For these ‘post-Marxists’, the multiplicity of modern >> democratic struggles counts as a critique of Marx’s theory; in place >> of an analysis centred upon capitalist relations of production, they >> offer the heterogeneity of political and social relations, the >> equality and autonomy of all struggles, and the market-place of >> competing discourses. >> Beyond Capital should be understood as a challenge to this retreat >> from Marx. It argues that the only way that they can separate >> struggles such as those over health and living conditions, air and >> water quality, women’s rights, government social programmes, the >> costs and conditions of higher education, and democratic struggles >> in general from workers is by beginning with the theoretical >> reduction of workers to one-sided opposites of capital. Only by >> limiting the needs of workers to wages, hours and conditions of work >> can the ‘post-Marxists’ theoretically posit new social movements as >> the basis for a critique of class analysis; rather than considering >> the worker as a socially developed human being within modern >> capitalist society, they utilise the narrow stereotype of the >> Abstract Proletarian. >> Yet, the ‘post-Marxists’ did not invent that stereotype. Beyond >> Capitalargues that the concept of the Abstract Proletarian is the >> product of a one-sided Marxism that has distorted Marx’s own >> conception of workers as subjects. It situates the roots of this >> one-sided Marxism in the failure to recognise that Marx’s Capital >> was never intended as the complete analysis of capitalism but, >> rather, as an explanation and demystification for workers of the >> nature of capital. >> For one-sided Marxists, Capital explains why capitalism will come to >> an end. Inexorable forces make history. It is a world of things and >> inhuman forces, of one-sided subjects (if, indeed, there are any >> subjects)--- rather than living, struggling beings attempting to >> shape their lives. And, in this world, the Abstract Proletariat >> finally rises to its appointed task and unlocks the productive >> forces that have outgrown their capitalist shell. If the facts do >> not appear to support Capital, so much the worse for the facts. As >> Marx commented about disciples (see Chapter 2), the disintegration >> of a theory begins when the point of departure is ‘no longer >> reality, but the new theoretical form in which the master had >> sublimated it.’ >> But this is not the only aspect of the disintegration of Marxist >> theory. Both in theory and practice, Marxism has attempted to free >> itself from the constraints imposed by the one-sidedness inherent in >> the exegesis of the sacred text -- and it has done so through >> eclecticism. In practice, it has attempted to extend beyond narrow >> economistic appeals to its Abstract Proletariat; and, in theory, it >> engages in methodological eclecticism to modify the doctrine >> underlying practice. Both in theory and practice, ‘modernisation’ >> becomes the rallying-cry and the latest fad. Nothing, of course, is >> easier than eclecticism. >> Yet, the freedom attained through such sophistication is neither >> absolute nor without a price. For, the text remains, unsullied by >> its eclectic accretions; and the one-sided reading it permits >> provides a standing rebuke and never lacks for potential bearers of >> its position. Thus, not freedom but a vulnerability to >> fundamentalist criticism; and, not new directions but swings, more >> or less violent, between the poles of the real subject and the >> reified text. There is, in short, fertile ground for an endless >> dispute between fundamentalism and faddism. >> Nor is it self-evident what precisely is saved by eclecticism--- >> whether Marxism as a theory ‘sufficient unto itself’ survives the >> addition of alien elements, whether the new combinations may still >> be called Marxism. It has been the basic insight of fundamentalists >> that eclectic and syncretic combinations threaten the very core of >> Marxism as an integral conception. In short, neither the purveyors >> of the Abstract Proletariat of Capital nor the eclectic dissidents >> traverse the gap between the pure theory of Capital and the reality >> of capitalism. Both are forms of one-sided Marxism, different >> aspects of the disintegration of Marxist theory. They are the >> result, on the one hand, of the failure of Marx to complete his >> epistemological project in Capital and, on the other hand, of the >> displacement of the understanding of Marx’s method by the exegesis >> of sacred texts. >> Beyond Capital should be understood as a call for the continuation >> of Marx’s project. By stressing the centrality of Marx’s method and >> using it to explore the subject matter of Marx’s unfinished work--- >> in particular, his projected book on Wage-Labour, it focuses on the >> missing side in Capital--- the side of workers. Beyond >> Capitalrestores human beings (and class struggle) to the hub of >> Marxian analysis by tracing out the implications of that missing >> book. It challenges not only the economic determinism and >> reductionism of one-sided Marxism but also the accommodations of the >> ‘post-Marxists’. Marx’s conception of the political economy of the >> working class comes to the fore; next to its focus upon the >> collective producer (which contains implicit within it the vision of >> an alternative society), the ‘post-Marxist’ view of human beings as >> consumers (with, of course, heterogeneous needs) stands revealed as >> so many empty abstractions. >> This is not at all an argument, however, that class struggle is >> absent from Capital or that references to class struggle by workers >> are missing. But, Capital is essentially about capital--- its goals >> and its struggles to achieve those goals. Its theme is not workers >> (except insofar as capital does something to workers), not workers’ >> goals (except to mention that they differ from those of capital) and >> not workers’ class struggle (except insofar as workers react against >> capital’s offensives). Even where Marx made sporadic comments in >> Capital about workers as subjects, those comments hang in mid-air >> without anything comparable to the systematic logical development he >> provides for the side of capital. The result, I argue, is that some >> quite significant aspects of capitalism are missing and not >> developed in Capital and, indeed, that there are problematic aspects >> of the latter. Those who think that ‘it’s all in Capital’ should >> explain the continuing reproduction of a one-sided Marxism. >> In the Preface to the first edition, I noted that this book took a >> long time to come together and that it was still in the process of >> development. This edition, written 11 years later, demonstrates this >> point well. In fact, in preparing this edition, I came to look upon >> the first edition as a first draft. Every chapter from the original >> edition was changed. Some alterations were relatively minor and >> merely updated and strengthened points made earlier (drawing now, >> e.g., upon the publication of Marx’s 1861-63 Economic Manuscripts). >> However, this edition also reflects the further development of my >> thinking on the questions raised. >> One of the most significant changes involves the division of the >> original concluding chapter (‘Beyond Political Economy’) into two >> separate chapters (‘From Political Economy to Class Struggle’ and >> ‘From Capital to the Collective Worker’). This allowed me to expand >> in particular upon the concepts of the Workers’ State and of the >> collective worker, respectively--- areas I have been exploring in >> the context of recent papers and a book in progress on the theory of >> socialist economies. While this elaboration had been intended from >> the outset of plans for a new edition, two other new chapters >> emerged in the course of the revision. The new Chapter 6 (‘Wages’) >> explicitly considers the effect upon the theory of wages of relaxing >> Marx’s assumption in Capital that workers receive a ‘definite >> quantity of the means of subsistence’; in the course of this >> investigation, the degree of separation among workers (a variable >> noted in the first edition) takes on significantly more importance. >> Finally, there is a completely new opening chapter (‘Why Marx? A >> Story of Capital’). In the course of writing a chapter on Marx >> recently for a collection on the views of economists on capitalism, >> it occurred to me that Beyond Capital was missing an introduction to >> Marx’s analysis of capital. It wasn’t there originally because I had >> conceived of the book as a supplement to Capital; however, given the >> way this new chapter opens up questions to which I subsequently >> return, it is hard for me to believe now that the chapter wasn’t >> always there. >> I am extremely grateful to the many people who have encouraged me in >> this work since its original publication. Among those I want >> especially to thank are Gibin Hong, translator of the Korean >> language edition, Jesus Garcia Brigos and Ernesto Molina (who told >> me Che would have liked the book). At this point, though, I am >> especially appreciative for the critical feedback on new material >> for this edition that I’ve received from various readers. Some of >> this feedback has saved me from serious errors; so, thank you to >> Greg Albo, Jim Devine, Alfredo Saad-Filho, Sam Gindin, Marta >> Harnecker, Leo Panitch, Sid Shniad and Tony Smith. >> At the time of the writing of this Preface, chronologically the >> final part of this edition, capitalism’s triumph is not as >> unproblematic as it may have seemed at the time of the first >> edition. Strong protest movements have emerged in opposition to the >> forms of capitalist globalisation, and the development of new >> international links in the struggle against global capital proceeds. >> Further, capital appears to be undergoing one of its characteristic >> crises, and the contest as to which particular capitals and >> locations is to bear the burden of excess global capacity as well as >> the depth of the crisis are yet to determined. >> If there is one important message from this book, however, it is >> that economic crises do not bring about an end to capitalism. Once >> we consider the worker as subject, then the conditions within which >> workers themselves are produced (and produce themselves) emerge as >> an obvious part of the explanation for the continued existence of >> capitalism. Beyond Capital stresses the manner in which the worker’s >> dependence upon capital, within existing relations, is reproduced >> under normal circumstances; and, thus, it points to the critical >> importance not only of that demystification of capital upon which >> Marx himself laboured but also of the process of struggle by which >> workers produce themselves as subjects capable of altering their >> world. >> This essential point about the centrality of revolutionary practice >> for going beyond capital affords me the opportunity to close with >> the quotation from George Sand with which Marx concluded his Poverty >> of Philosophy (Marx, 1847a: 212). (In the context of capital’s >> demonstrated tendency to destroy both human beings and Nature, the >> statement has taken on added meaning.) Until ‘there are no more >> classes and class antagonisms …, the last word of social science >> will always be… Combat or death, bloody struggle or extinction. Thus >> the question is inexorably put.’ >> >> September 2002 > > ---------------------Michael A. LebowitzProfessor EmeritusEconomics > DepartmentSimon Fraser UniversityBurnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6Office: > Phone (604) 291-4669 Fax (604) 291-5944Home: Phone (604) > 689-9510 [NOTE CHANGE]
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